Creative Assembly, the developer behind the Total War series, has made several vows regarding future entries into the franchise in its end of year message for 2024 – all of them very positive for fans.
CA’s Roger Collum stated that “if a future Total War game, thematically, requires blood then we will include it within the base game without the need for a separate purchase,” even if that leads to the game being classified in a higher age rating. Until now, Total War games launched without any depictions of blood to push down the age rating with a DLC adding the effects being offered after release.
Without reading too much into this sentence, Collum’s wording is undoubtedly interesting – two forerunner settings to host the next Total War entries are Warhammer 40,000 and Star Wars. Naturally, Games Workshop’s grimdark universe would be a prime candidate for including blood from the get-go, while a Star Wars game could easily do without it. Collum’s wording provides space for both.
Speaking of the next major Total War game, though, Creative Assembly will reveal more on that towards the end of 2025. “And yes, we hope to unveil some new projects too – we’ll share more when we’re ready at the tail-end of next year,” Collum wrote.
Whatever the next Total War game is, it won’t feature a faction exclusive to fans who pre-order it. “This has been a divisive inclusion for past releases, so we want to ensure that what we’re offering appeals to more players,” Collum stated. He added that there will still be some kind of bonus to incentivize pre-orders, such as discounts, and invited the community to share ideas. Collum also said that the separate Total War launcher will be scrapped, but not before CA can offer an alternative solution to the community for mod management.
Finally, there is good news for fans of Total War: Warhammer 3. Creative Assembly revealed that it’s planning some faction reworks for the races included in the Shadows of Change DLC – that fateful, disastrous expansion that kicked off CA’s comeback arc in 2024. Collum explained: “We’re working on a plan for next year which brings key campaign changes to Kislev’s content alongside some smaller improvements for Tzeentch and Grand Cathay, while also providing anyone who hasn’t purchased Shadows of Change with the ability to buy each pack individually like Thrones of Decay.”
